Half-Elf
Humans and elves sometimes wed, the elf attracted to the human's energy and the human to the elf's grace. These marriages end quickly as elves count years because a human's life is so brief but they leave an enduring legacy--half-elf children. The life of a half-elf can be hard. If raised by elves, the half-elf seems to grow with astounding speed, reaching maturity within two decades. The half-elf becomes an adult long before she has had time to learn the intricacies of elven art and culture, or even grammar. She leaves behind her childhood friends, becoming physically an adult but culturally still a child by elven standards. Typically, she leaves her elven home, which is no longer familiar, and finds her way among humans. If, on the other hand, she is raised by humans, the half-elf finds herself different from her peers: more aloof, more sensitive, less ambitious, and slower to mature. Some half-elves try to fit in among humans, while others find their identities in their difference. Most find places for themselves in human lands, but some feel like outsiders all their lives. Half-Elf Racial Traits * Medium: As Medium creatures, half-elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. * Half-elf base land speed is 30 feet * Immunity to ''sleep ''spells and similar magical effects, and similar magical effects, and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells or effects. * Low-light vision: A half-elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. * +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks: A half-elf does not have the elf's ability to notice secret doors simply by passing near them. Half-elves have keen senses, but not as keen as those of an elf. * +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks: Half-elves get along naturally with all people. * Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-elf is considered an elf. Half-elves, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect elves as their elf anscestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by elves. * Automatic Languages: Common and Elven * Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages such as Druidic). Half-elves have all the versatility and broad (if shallow) experience that humans have. * Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass half-elf takes an experience penalty her, highest-level class does not count. Personality Most half-elves have the curiosity, inventiveness, and ambition of the human parent, along with the refined senses, love of nature, and artistic tastes of the elf parent. Physical Description To humans, half-elves look like elves. To elves, they look like humans--indeed, elves call them half-humans. Half-elf height ranges from under 5 feet to about 6 feet tall, and weight usually ranges from 100 to 180 pounds. Half-elf men are taller and heavier than half-elf women, but the difference is less pronounced than that found among humans/ Half-elves are paler, fairer, and smoother-skinned than their human parents, but their actual skin tone, hair color, and other details vary just as human features do. Half-elves' eyes are green just as those of their elf parents. A half-elf reaches adulthood at age 20 and can live to be over 180 years old. Most half-elves are the children of human-elf pairings. Some, however, are the children of parents who themselves are partly human and partly elf. Some of these "second generation" half-elves have human like eyes, but most still have green eyes. Relations Half-elves do well among both elves and humans, and they also get along well with dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. They have elven grace without the elven aloofness, human energy without the human boorishness. They make excellent ambassadors and go-betweens (except between elves and humans, snce each side suspects the half-elf of favoring the other). In human lands where elves are distant or not on friendly terms with other races, however, half-elves are viewed with suspicion. Some half-elves show a marked disfavor toward half-orcs. Perhaps the similarities between themselves and half-orcs (a partly human lineage) makes these half-elves uncomfortable. Alignment Half-elves share the chaotic bent of their elven heritage, but, like humans, they tend toward both good and evil in equal proportion. Like elves, they value personal freedom and creative expression, demonstrating neither love of leaders nor desire for followers. They chafe at rules, resent others' demands, and sometimes prove unreliable or at least unpredictable. Half-Elven Lands Half-elves have no lands of their own, though they are welcome in human cities and elven forests. In large cities, half-elves sometimes form small communities of their own. Religion Half-elves raised among elves follow elven deities, principally Corellon Larethian (god of the elves). Those raised among humans often follow Ehlonna (goddess of the woodlands). Language Half-elves speak the languages they are born to, Common and Elven. Half-elves are slightly clumsy with the intricate Elven language, though only elves notice, and even so half-elves do better than nonelves. Names Half-elves use either human or elven naming conventions. Ironically, a half-elf raised among humans is often given an elven name in honor of her heritage, just as a half-elf raised among elves often takes a human name. Adventurers Half-elves find themselves drawn to strange careers and unusual company. Taking up the life of an adventurer comes easily to many of them. Like elves, they are driven by wanderlust Category:Race Category:Players Handbook Category:Humanoid